Records Winning Video At Decatur Celebration

For Immediate Release

Contact: Micaela Small (630) 410-7145

DECATUR, IL September 26, 2012— Regina Rhodes has always lived by the credo “Anything’s Possible.” Now, she has a $25,000 2nd-chance Lottery prize to prove it! Rhodes brief video testimonial as to what ‘Anything’s Possible” means to her--recorded at this summer’s Decatur Celebration--was randomly selected as the $25,000 winner from among 6,900 similar videos submitted from across Illinois.

“This is incredible, said Rhodes, 55. “We feel so blessed. We've always believed anything's possible; in fact we think the Lottery borrowed that saying from us! As someone who started a small business, you have to have that kind of attitude to make a go of it.”

Rhodes is a regular attendee at the annual Decatur Celebration summer festival. This year, at the urging of her 16 year-old son, Cody, she decided to stop by the Lottery booth and record a brief video as to why she believes anything’s possible. Despite her long-held positive attitude, Rhodes didn’t really think she was going to win the $25,000 prize—but she did!

“When our new advertising agency presented ‘Anything’s Possible’ as what the lottery’s brand was all about,” said Lottery Supt. Michael Jones, “we discovered that everyone we knew had a personal story of why they believed anything is possible in America. The lottery and Northstar, our private manager, developed a promotion to capture as many ‘Anything’s Possible’ stories as we could throughout the

In her 25-second video, Rhodes talks excitedly about living in a great state like Illinois, and having the confidence to start a business in today’s less-than-stellar economy. “I like to live my life thinking anything really is possible,” she said.

Rhodes received a $25,000 ceremonial check from Lottery officials today at the Decatur Celebration’s administrative headquarters located on E. Main Street in Decatur. She was joined at the celebration by her husband of 19 years, Doug, who works as a medical emergency helicopter pilot. Son Cody attended as well, and took some of the credit for his mom’s Lottery windfall.

“I was contemplating going over to the Lottery booth and almost didn’t because we wanted to get involved in so many of the celebration festivities,” said Regina. “Cody kind of nudged me on and I’m so happy he did,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes owns "Next of Kiln", a pottery/stained glass/basket weaving art studio in Mt. Zion. In honor of today’s Lottery announcement, she put the phrase “Anything’s Possible” on her store’s marquee. Rhodes is well known throughout the community, and spends her free time as an "artist in residence" at area schools, where most children know her as "Miss Regina." She plans to use much of the $25,000 prize to “put a sizeable dent” in son Cody’s future college expenses.

"A promotion with this message is so fitting for a community like Decatur--because we have so much heart,” said Decatur Celebration Producer Lori Sturgill. “We couldn't be more excited that the winner was selected from entries recorded at Decatur Celebration, a festival that captures the great spirit of our community."

The Anything’s Possible summer promotion dovetails the Lottery’s award-winning, multi-media brand campaign of the same name. The campaign conveys the sense that even every-day events hold promise and opportunity beyond the routine/obvious.

Founded in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $18 billion to the state’s Common School Fund to assist K-12 public schools, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars to the Capital Projects Fund and to special causes like Illinois Veterans, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to playing in-store, the Illinois Lottery offers online and mobile play for Mega Millions, Powerball and Lotto at www.illinoislottery.com. Players must be at least 18 years old.

Play Responsibly. Must be 18 or older to play. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537). For more info or to exclude yourself call 1-800-252-1775.

To best view our site, use one of these browsers: IE 8,9,10, Chrome, Firefox 10+ or Safari 5.0.